Thoughts from Culhwch

So, when I’m board and there’s nothing else to do, I spend all day looking at coffee machines. Then I found this mod for a Rancilio Silvia… it uses an Arduino micro-controller board and nice display, and a wii-chuck. Yes, a wii-chuck. Check the link and watch the video. The nice thing about implementing a PID in a micro-controller is that you can do so much else besides just keep the temp where you want it. So cool. And it’s probably cheaper than just buying a 150 dollar PID temp controller. Total parts on just implementing the temp controller probably around 75… for putting all this other stuff in here, probably around 175.

Oh and I got my first almost acceptable shot out of Nunzio’s old little moka pot. It was much better when I overloaded the filter basket twice and pushed down with the back of my spoon to level it. Since the water pressure comes from bellow, I think the secret is having the grounds level with the top, so that nothing can slide around inside the filter basket as the pressure comes up from below. The second thing, which may actually be just as important as the other, was that since my moka pot was too small and was slipping through the grates on my range, I stuck it in a saucepan with about 3/4 inch of water. My guess is that the double boiler technique stabilized the temp of the moka pot, keeping the top from overheating. While the bottom stayed in contact with saucepan, the sides were stabilized by the boiling water, so they couldn’t get up above 212.

Also, I was using a blade grinder! How crazy is that? I mean I was shocked that the coffee came out as good as it did. Still not a ristretto, but pretty good for as many variables as are completely out my control….

So I was at a Bible study last night, and the question was to try to define faith… I’m still working this out a little, but I’m somewhere along the lines of the following. Faith is when we give up the illusion of our own control, and yet retain the grounds of our hope that God’s promises are still good, despite our own inability to see them through. It’s a start. But I think having faith that my coffee will come out ok every time with a blade grinder may be a little off center.

~david